The Bluetooth 5 specification, published today by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, paves the way toward new and exciting destinations on the information superhighway. In particular, the spec targets the Internet of Things with improvements to range, speed, security, and capacity.

Google has a new method for shrinking down the size of app updates in the Google Play Store. The fresh technique, called file-to-file patching, is more efficient than the previous algorithm. It can help crunch apps, making them easier to download over wireless networks. There's only one drawback.

Google announced the Firebase App Indexing API. The API allows users to search for content within the Google app and find personal or public content across apps installed on a particular device. Because the content is stored on the device, the API is functional whether a user is online or not.

Google made a second preview of Android 7.1 available to mobile app developers ahead of the platform's release. Along with the new build, Google made some minor adjustments to the Android SDK and Android Studio. Developers should put the new tools to use in finalizing their apps for Android 7.1.

Mertech has announced its latest SaaSification tool: THRIFTLY.IO. THRIFTLY allows developers to maintain the functionality of legacy Windows apps, but provide API access to such apps for easier consumption in mobile and cloud-based formats. No additional coding for API setup is needed with THRIFTLY.

Google has added yet more tools to the Play Developer Console, including a new voidedPurchases API for managing Play Store refunds. The new feature set mainly targets subscriptions, betas, independent titles, and virtual reality content ahead of Google's launch of the Daydream platform.

Google is pushing a significant update to its Firebase platform in order to make the backend-as-a-service even more useful for developers. The refreshed platform targets game developers and tosses in new crash reporting and analytics enhancements for good measure. Here's what you need to know.

Google has announced that they will shutting down panoramic photo sharing site Panoramio, along with its API on November 4th. Originally the company had announced plans for the shut down back in 2014 but due to strong community feedback they postponed those plans until users had viable options.

Verifone, a payments and commerce solutions provider, has announced that the company is leading an effort to define and implement the Conexxus Mobile Standard, a new Mobile API standard that aims to coordinate interactions between mobile payment and loyalty program applications.

Google recently announced that it will soon release a developer preview of Android 7.1 Nougat. The refreshed platform from Google carries over some of the fancy features from the recently-announced Pixel phones to Nexus handsets and other devices. As always, new APIs abound and require app updates.

App review fraud is a serious issue for both developers and app stores, but Bogdan Popsecu, the developer behind the popular Dash tool, says Apple went too far in closing his account and banning him. This is a mess.

Crashlytics has improved its Beta by Crashlytics developer tool with a new way to distribute beta app builds. Fastlane automates portions of beta deployment for iOS apps with a process so simple practically anyone can set it up. The goal is to help developers speed up beta testing.

Google today released a new developer preview of Android Wear 2.0. This latest build is the third from Google and brings the smartwatch platform one step closer to its general release. Google added some killer new features to the operating system, but not all the news is good.

Android Studio 2.2 has been available in preview form since May, but this week Google made the final version available to all developers. Android Studio is the integrated development environment that Android app writers use to work their magic in creating smartphone and tablet applications.

Developers worried about surpassing mobile app size limits can find salvation in the new modular SDK from MoPub. It allows developer to customize the SDK for only the ad formats they want or need to use. This means developers have more control over their app's size and can improve performance.

Twenty Two APIs have been added to the ProgrammableWeb directory in categories such as Photos, Payments, Home Automation, and Contacts. Highlighted today are several APIs from Cloud Elements plus an API for Pexels free stock photo service. Here's a rundown of the latest additions.

Apple's latest mobile platform, iOS 10, is nearly ready. The iPhone-maker released the penultimate version of iOS 10 to developers and public testers this week and the company hopes developers will kick app submissions into high gear. Apple is interested to see what developers are doing with Siri.

In June, APple publicly released its SDK for iOS 10 meaning third-party developers can now intergatte their mobile apps into key Apple apps and reaping the benefits of innovative mobile engagement opportunities from previously unavailable channels such as Siri, iMessage and Apple Maps.

CrowdRiff has announced API access to its Visual Influence platform. API access to CrowdRiff features allow users to deliver user-generated photos and associated features to marketing products and campaigns. Features include social media search, calls to action, photo acquisition, and more.

With Pokémon GO seemingly taking over the world as players walk around in search of the virtual creatures, one developer used the Watson Visual Recognition API to analyse screen shots of the app to locate nearby Pokémon, winning Best Use of Watson challenge at the AT&T Shape Tech Expo Hackathon.